Historical Events in 2002

Events 1 - 200 of 275

• Jan 1 Euro banknotes and coins become legal tender in twelve of the European Union's member states.
• Jan 1 Taiwan officially joins the World Trade Organization, as Chinese Taipei.
• Jan 1 The Open Skies mutual surveillance treaty, initially signed in 1992, officially comes into force.

• Jan 2 Eduardo Duhalde is appointed interim President of Argentina by the Legislative Assembly.
• Jan 3 The Palestinian freighter Karine A is seized by Israeli forces in the Red Sea
• Jan 6 Daniel Bedingfield returns to No.1 on the UK singles chart for the second time with Gotta Get Thru This

• Jan 14 UK declared free of foot-and-mouth cattle disease

• Jan 17 Mount Nyiragongo erupts in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, displacing an estimated 400,000 people.
• Jan 18 Sierra Leone Civil War finally declared over.
• Jan 19 "Tuck Rule Game" AFC Divisional Playoff Game; with under 2 minutes to play New England Patriots trail Oakland Raiders, 13-10 in a driving snowstorm, when a Tom Brady fumble ruled an incomplete pass. Patriots win 16-13 in overtime
• Jan 20 Photographs showing al-Qaeda and Taliban suspects shackled and masked are published by the United States military
• Jan 21 The Canadian Dollar sets all-time low against the US Dollar (US$0.6179).
• Jan 22 Kmart Corp becomes the largest retailer in United States history to file for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection
• Jan 23 "American Taliban" John Walker Lindh returns to the United States in Federal Bureau of Investigation custody.
• Jan 23 Reporter Daniel Pearl kidnapped in Karachi, Pakistan, and subsequently murdered.
• Jan 25 Wikipedia switches to the new version of its software ("Phase II") aka Magnus Manske Day.
• Jan 28 TAME Flight 120, a Boeing 727-100 crashes in the Andes mountains in southern Colombia killing 92
• Jan 29 "Foolish" single released by Ashanti (Billboard Song of the Year 2002)
• Jan 29 The San Diego Chargers hire Marty Schottenheimer as their 13th head coach
• Jan 29 US President George W. Bush in his State of the Union address describes "regimes that sponsor terror" an "Axis of Evil", which includes Iraq, Iran and North Korea

• Feb 8 XIX Winter Olympic Games open in Salt Lake City, Utah, United States
• Feb 12 An Iran Air Tupolev Tu-154 crashes prior to landing in Khorramabad, Iran, killing 119

• Feb 12 US Secretary of Energy makes the decision that Yucca Mountain is suitable to be the United States' nuclear waste repository
• Feb 14 Fishing vessel Tullaghmurray Lass sinks off the coast of Kilkeel, County Down, Northern Ireland killing three members of the same family on board
• Feb 15 At the Tri-State Crematory in La Fayette, Georgia, investigators find uncremated bodies disposed of in the woods and buildings on crematorium's property. One of the worst incidents of abuse in the funeral service industry.
• Feb 15 Walt Disney releases "Return to Never Land", an animated film sequel to 1953's "Peter Pan"

• Feb 17 Westlife go to No.1 on the UK singles chart with 'World Of Our Own.' The Irish boy band's 10th UK No.1 single.
• Feb 19 NASA's Mars Odyssey space probe begins to map the surface of Mars using its thermal emission imaging system.
• Feb 20 In Reqa Al-Gharbiya, Egypt, a fire on a train injures over 65 and kills at least 370.
• Feb 21 Canadian world champion women's ice hockey team wins first of 4 consecutive Winter Olympic gold medals with a 3-2 win over the United States at Salt Lake City
• Feb 22 Angolan revolutionary politician and military leader of UNITA, Jonas Savimbi is killed in a military ambush in the province of Moxico
• Feb 23 Sky Disc of Nebra, world's oldest map of the stars at 3,600 years old, recovered in police sting operation in Basal, Switzerland after being illegally excavated in Germany [1]
• Feb 24 IXX Winter Olympic Games close in Salt Lake City, Utah, United States

• Feb 27 Godhra train burning, a Muslim mob kills 59 Hindu pilgrims returning from Ayodhya
• Feb 27 Ryanair Flight 296 catches fire in London Stansted Airport. Subsequent investigations criticize Ryanair's handling of the evacuation.

• Mar 1 The Envisat environmental satellite successfully reaches an orbit 800 kilometers (500 miles) above the Earth on its 11th launch, carrying the heaviest payload to date at 8500 kilograms (9.5 tons).
• Mar 1 The peseta is discontinued as official currency of Spain and is replaced with the euro (€).
• Mar 1 U.S. invasion of Afghanistan: Operation Anaconda begins in eastern Afghanistan as US special operations forces infiltrate the Shahi-Kot Valley in Eastern Afghanistan
• Mar 2 40-year old South African boxer ‘Baby Jake’ Matlala ends his 22-year career with a 7th-round TKO win over Columbia’s Juan Herrera to retain his WBU junior flyweight title in Johannesburg
• Mar 2 US invasion of Afghanistan: US conventional forces first deployed as part of Operation Anaconda
• Mar 3 Citizens of Switzerland narrowly vote in favor of their country becoming a member of the United Nations.
• Mar 4 Canada bans human embryo cloning but permits government-funded scientists to use embryos left over from fertility treatment or abortions.
• Mar 4 Multinational Force in Afghanistan: Seven American Special Operations Forces soldiers are killed as they attempt to infiltrate the Shahi Kot Valley on a low-flying helicopter reconnaissance mission.

• Mar 9 Joe Sakic plays his 1,000th career game

• Mar 12 US crime series "The Shield" starring Michael Chiklis premieres on FX

• Mar 19 U.S. invasion of Afghanistan: Operation Anaconda ends (started on March 2) after killing 500 Taliban and al Qaeda fighters with 11 allied troop fatalities
• Mar 21 In Pakistan, Ahmed Omar Saeed Sheikh along with three other suspects are charged with murder for their part in the kidnapping and killing of Wall Street Journal reporter Daniel Pearl.
• Mar 21 Schoolgirl Amanda Dowler is abducted in broad daylight on her way home from Heathside School in Walton-on-Thames, England

• Mar 25 TV reality show "The Bachelor" hosted by Chris Harrison debuts on ABC in the US
• Mar 27 Passover Massacre: A suicide bomber kills 29 people in Netanya, Israel.

• Apr 1 The Netherlands legalizes euthanasia, becoming the first nation in the world to do so.
• Apr 2 Israeli forces surround the Church of the Nativity in Bethlehem into which armed Palestinians had retreated. A siege ensues.
• Apr 4 The Angolan government and UNITA rebels sign a peace treaty ending the Angolan Civil War

• Apr 11 The Ghriba synagogue bombing by Al Qaeda kills 21 in Tunisia
• Apr 12 Palestinian suicide bomber (female) kills 7 and injures 104 (among them 9 Arabs) at the Mahane Yehuda Market in Jerusalem.
• Apr 12 Pedro Carmona becomes interim President of Venezuela during the military coup against Hugo Chávez.
• Apr 13 Pedro Carmona, interim president of Venezuela, resigns one day after taking office

• Apr 14 Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez returns to office two days after being ousted and arrested by the country's military
• Apr 15 An Air China Boeing 767-200, flight CA129 crashes into a hillside during heavy rain and fog near Busan, South Korea, killing 128.
• Apr 17 Four Canadian Forces soldiers are killed in Afghanistan by friendly fire from two United States Air Force F-16s, the first deaths in a combat zone for Canada since the Korean War
• Apr 20 NFL Draft: Fresno State quarterback David Carr #1 pick by Houston Texans

• Apr 26 Robert Steinhäuser infiltrates and kills 17 at Gutenberg-Gymnasium in Erfurt, Germany before dying of a self-inflicted gunshot.
• Apr 27 The last successful telemetry from the NASA space probe Pioneer 10
• Apr 28 The Tradition Senior Men's Golf, Superstition Mountain G&CC: Jim Thorpe wins his lone career major title with birdie on first playoff hole against John Jacobs
• Apr 29 The United States is re-elected to the United Nations Commission on Human Rights, one year after losing the seat it had held for 50 years

• May 1 Padres closer Trevor Hoffman sets MLB record for saves for one team (321) in 4-3 win v Chicago Cubs in San Diego
• May 2 Marad massacre of eight Hindus near Palakkad in Kerala

• May 3 A military MiG-21 aircraft crashes into the Bank of Rajasthan in India, killing eight.

• May 6 "The Good Stuff" single released by Kenny Chesney (Billboard Song of the Year 2002)
• May 6 Dutch politician Pim Fortuyn is shot and killed at close range with an illegally purchased pistol by an animal rights activist upset with Fortuyn's policies

• May 7 A China Northern Airlines MD-82 plunges into the Yellow Sea, killing 112 people.
• May 9 38-day stand-off in the Church of the Nativity in Bethlehem comes to an end when Palestinians inside agree to have 13 suspected militants among them deported
• May 9 In Kaspiysk, Russia, a remote-controlled bomb explodes during a holiday parade killing 43 and injuring at least 130
• May 10 Anaheim Angels crush the Chicago White Sox 19-0. The Angels join the 1923 Indians, 1939 Yankees and 1950 Red Sox as the only teams to beat two opponents by 19 or more runs in the same season
• May 11 Her Royal Highness Princess Margriet of the Netherlands unveils the Man With Two Hats monument in Ottawa and Apeldoorn (May 2), 2000, symbolically linking both the Netherlands and Canada for their assistance throughout the Second World War.

• May 14 Ten members of the Darwin-based Network Against Prohibition invade the Legislative Assembly of the Northern Territory of Australia.

• May 18 Micky Ward beats Arturo Gatti by majority decision in a junior welterweight boxing bout in Uncasville, Connecticut; 'The Ring' Fight of the Year; first fight in their legendary trilogy
• May 20 The independence of East Timor is recognized by Portugal, formally ending 23 years of Indonesian rule and 3 years of provisional UN administration (Portugal itself was the former colonizer of East Timor until 1976)
• May 22 American civil rights movement: a jury in Birmingham, Alabama, convicts former Ku Klux Klan member Bobby Frank Cherry of the 1963 murders of four girls in the bombing of the 16th Street Baptist Church

• May 22 The remains of missing Chandra Levy are found in Rock Creek Park, Washington, D.C.
• May 23 The "55 parties" clause of the Kyoto protocol is reached after its ratification by Iceland
• May 24 Russia and the United States sign the Moscow Treaty.
• May 25 A train crash in Tenga, Mozambique, kills 197 people
• May 25 China Airlines Flight 611: A Boeing 747-200 breaks apart in mid-air and plunges into the Taiwan Strait killing 225 people
• May 25 Super Rugby Final, Jade Stadium, Christchurch: Crusaders win 4th title with a 31-13 thumping of the ACT Brumbies; flyhalf Andrew Mehrtens boots 3 penalties, 2 conversions and a dropped goal for the winners

• May 26 Álvaro Uribe becomes President of Colombia

• May 26 The Mars Odyssey finds signs of large ice deposits on the planet Mars
• May 28 NATO declares Russia a limited partner in the Western alliance.
• May 31 The New Jersey Nets defeat the Boston Celtics 96-88 in Game 6 of the NBA's Eastern Conference Championship, winning the series 4 games to 2 to advance to their first NBA Finals appearance.

• Jun 2 56th Tony Awards: "Thoroughly Modern Millie" (musical) & "The Goat, or Who is Sylvia?" (play) win

• Jun 3 "The Party at the Palace" concert commemorating Queen Elizabeth's Golden Jubilee held at Buckingham Palace Garden in London; performers include: Queen, Annie Lennox, Tony Bennett, Tom Jones; The Corrs; Ozzy Osbourne, Brian Wilson, and Paul McCartney, among others

• Jun 6 A near-Earth asteroid estimated at 10 metres diameter explodes over the Mediterranean Sea between Greece and Libya. Resulting explosion estimated to have a force of 26 kilotons, more powerful than the Nagasaki atomic bomb.

• Jun 10 The first direct electronic communication experiment between the nervous systems of two humans is carried out by Kevin Warwick in the United Kingdom.

• Jun 11 Antonio Meucci is acknowledged as the first inventor of the telephone by the United States Congress

• Jun 13 The United States of America withdraws from the Anti-Ballistic Missile Treaty
• Jun 14 "The Bourne Identity" directed by Doug Liman and starring Matt Damon is released in the US
• Jun 15 Near earth asteroid 2002 MN misses the Earth by 75,000 miles (120,000 km), about one-third of the distance between the Earth and the Moon
• Jun 21 Disney animated movie "Lilo & Stitch" released, written and directed by Chris Sanders and Dean DeBlois
• Jun 22 An earthquake in western Iran measuring 6.5 on the Richter scale kills more than 261 people.
• Jun 24 The Igandu train disaster in Tanzania kills 281, the worst train accident in African history
• Jun 26 NBA Draft: Shanghai Sharks (China) center Yao Ming first pick by Houston Rockets
• Jun 28 In South Africa, the Congress of South African Trade Unions and the Treatment Action Campaign table a national HIV/AIDS treatment plan in the National Economic, Development and Labour Council
• Jun 29 Naval clashes between South Korea and North Korea lead to the death of six South Korean sailors and sinking of a North Korean vessel.

• Jul 1 Bashkirian Airlines (flight 2937) Tupolev TU-154 and a DHL (German cargo) Boeing 757 collide in mid-air over Ueberlingen, southern Germany, killing 71
• Jul 1 The International Criminal Court is established to prosecute individuals for genocide, crimes against humanity, war crimes, and the crime of aggression
• Jul 2 Steve Fossett becomes the first person to fly solo around the world nonstop in a balloon.
• Jul 4 Early morning house fire claims lives of 3 children and 3 firefighters in Gloucester City, New Jersey; careless cigarette smoking the likely cause

• Jul 7 A scandal breaks out in the United Kingdom when news reports accuse MI6 of sheltering Abu Qatada, supposed European Al Qaeda leader

• Jul 10 At a Sotheby's auction, Peter Paul Rubens' painting The Massacre of the Innocents is sold for £49.5million (US$76.2 million) to Kenneth, Lord Thomson

• Jul 14 French President Jacques Chirac escapes an assassination attempt unscathed during Bastille Day celebrations
• Jul 15 "American Taliban" John Walker Lindh pleads guilty to supplying aid to the enemy and to possession of explosives during the commission of a felony
• Jul 15 A. P. J. Abdul Kalam is elected 11th President of India (results announced 18th July)
• Jul 15 Anti-Terrorism Court of Pakistan hands down the death sentence to British born Ahmed Omar Saeed Sheikh and life terms to three others suspected of murdering Wall Street Journal reporter Daniel Pearl
• Jul 20 Bartenders doing tricks with fire start a major fire in a night club in Lima, Peru that kills 25 and injures 100
• Jul 21 Telecom giant WorldCom files for Chapter 11 bankruptcy, the then largest such filing in United States history
• Jul 21 With a record 6 races remaining, German Ferrari driver Michael Schumacher clinches his 5th F1 World Drivers Championship with victory in the French Grand Prix at Circuit de Nevers Magny-Cours; 3rd straight title win
• Jul 22 Israel assassinates Salah Shahade, the Commander-in-Chief of Hamas's military arm, the Izz ad-Din al-Qassam Brigades, along with 14 civilians
• Jul 24 James Traficant is expelled from the United States House of Representatives on a vote of 420 to 1

• Jul 25 17th Commonwealth Games open in Manchester, England
• Jul 27 A Sukhoi Su-27 fighter crashes during an airshow at Lviv, Ukraine, killing 85 and injuring more than 100 in the largest airshow disaster in history
• Jul 28 Nine coal miners trapped in the flooded Quecreek Mine in Somerset County, Pennsylvania, are rescued after 77 hours underground.

• Jul 30 The accounting law referred to as "The Sarbanes Oxley Act" signed into law by President George W. Bush
• Jul 31 Polaroid Corporation is purchased by One Equity Partners, continuing to operate under the Polaroid Corporation name

• Aug 4 Soham murders: 10-year-old school girls Jessica Chapman and Holly Wells go missing from the town of Soham, Cambridgeshire.
• Aug 6 32-year old reliever Robb Nen becomes 16th and youngest closer to record 300 career saves as he protects Giants 11-10 lead v Cubs
• Aug 9 SF Giants outfielder Barry Bonds hits his 600th career home run
• Aug 10 New Zealand beats South Africa, 30-23 in Durban to win their fourth Tri Nations Rugby Series; All Blacks score 4 tries to 2
• Aug 16 Africa Women's Peace Train leaves Kampala for Johannesburg
• Aug 19 A Russian Mi-26 helicopter carrying troops is hit by a Chechen missile outside of Grozny, killing 118 soldiers.
• Aug 20 A group of Iraqis opposed to the regime of Saddam Hussein take over the Iraqi Embassy in Berlin for five hours before releasing their hostages and surrendering.
• Aug 26 Earth Summit 2002 begins in Johannesburg, South Africa
• Sep 4 After blowing an 11-run lead to Kansas City, Scott Hatteberg's bottom of the 9th walk off HR gives Oakland a historic MLB victory, 12-11; A's set AL record 20 game winning streak
• Sep 4 Argentina pulls off one of the biggest upsets in basketball history, beating the US, 87-80 in 2nd round of the World Championships; 1st US loss in 59 games since sending NBA players to international competition in 1992

• Sep 8 Rookie quarterback David Carr throws for 2 TDs as the Houston Texans beat Dallas Cowboys 19-10 to become only the 2nd expansion team (1961 Minnesota Vikings) to win their inaugural game
• Sep 8 Texas Rangers set a major league record by homering in their 26th consecutive game as Texas falls to the Tampa Bay
• Sep 9 MLB Arizona Diamondbacks' lefthanded pitcher Randy Johnson reaches 300 strikeouts for the fifth consecutive season, extending his major league record
• Sep 10 Switzerland, traditionally a neutral country, joins the United Nations
• Sep 11 Through extreme and coordinated effort, The Pentagon is rededicated after repairs are completed, exactly one year after the attack on the building.

• Sep 20 The Kolka-Karmadon rock and ice slide starts in North Ossetia–Alania, Russia

• Sep 23 The first public version of the web browser Mozilla Firefox ("Phoenix 0.1") is released

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